It's All Over or is it?
by brainy-brownie123
Summary: Now that Klaus is dead, life can return to normal in Mystic Falls… or can it? After a party, someone takes Elena from Damon, and he desperately wants her back in his arms. Minor language, and kidnapping. Pre s2ep21, the ritual works in Elena's favor.
1. Chapter 1

Elena smiled for the first time in months as she knocked on the door of the boarding house. The day was off to a great start, what with her knowing of Alaric's plans to propose to Jenna today, and because the air was filled with such a peace that she couldn't help but smile.

"Hello Elena, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Damon asked while doing that eye thing that Elena secretly loved.

Elena rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Stefan's in his room," Damon explained.

"Actually I'm here to see both of you," Elena said with a gleam in her eyes.

* * *

><p>"So can I use the boarding house for a party tonight?" Elena asked the Salvatore brothers while sitting on the couch across from them, "I want it to be an <em>it's all over<em> party, now that Klaus is gone and all trouble has left Mystic Falls, I want this party to be the big end to all of our drama."

"Of course you can, as long as I supply the booze," Damon slurred.

"That's great, I'll call Caroline and we'll get this party started," Elena said ecstatically.

"Hey Elena, can I talk to you upstairs?" Stefan asked.

"That's okay; I'll get this party started by myself!" Damon called up the stairs as Elena followed Stefan.

"Elena, I decided to leave tonight" Stefan sighed.

"What, why?" Elena asked.

"Because Elijah wants to go right away, so that no other vampires come to town to try and kill him, and Katherine isn't allowed to leave until Elijah says so, and now that Elijah has said okay she's been harping on me to leave for a week now," Stefan explained, "Elijah and I want to tie up all the loose ends, and I don't know how long that is going to take us."

"You don't know how long you'll be gone?" Elena whispered.

"Maybe a couple days, maybe a couple weeks," Stefan sighed.

"Do you know where you will be?" Elena cried, "What if Elijah hurts you."

"Around Virginia, and then down to Georgia and Florida, maybe up the eastern seaboard," Stefan sighed, "Elena everything will be okay, Elijah can't hurt me, not when he kept his word, and I'll be back before you can miss me. We have managed to stay together through tougher things."

"Okay, I'll just miss you so much." She said as she reached up to peck him on the lips.

The kiss deepened as Stefan wrapped his arms around Elena's waist pulling them closer together. It was full of goodbyes and promises to say hello again.

"Well don't let me stop you, but we've got an impatient original and a whiny ex at the door," Damon smirked as he stepped into the hallway.

"Damon already knew that you were leaving today?" Elena asked, feeling betrayed.

"Yes, and he promised that he would look after you while I was gone," Stefan said.

"Well, I don't need a babysitter," Elena sighed.

"You will after this party when you try to jump Matt in your drunken stupor," Damon chided.

Stefan sighed and said, "I'll call you both once we get outside of Mystic Falls."

"Bye brother," Damon smirked, "I'll make sure she doesn't kiss anyone, except me!"

Elena elbowed Damon as she made her way downstairs.

* * *

><p>The party started that night and everyone from town that had been affected by the vampires was there, Carol Lockwood, Sheriff Forbes, John Gilbert and the rest of the council and all of the friends, Matt, Tyler, Jeremy, Bonnie, and Caroline.<p>

Damon walked in with Alaric and Jenna and announced, "We're going to need some champagne over here!"

"And why is that?" Elena asked with a smile, already knowing the answer.

"Alaric and I are getting married!" Jenna exclaimed with a huge grin on her face.

Alaric and Damon moved to the kitchen to get drinks while Jenna asked Elena to be her maid of honor.

"When did you ask her?" Damon smirked.

"The night after we killed Klaus and broke the doppelganger curse, I ran to her house and got down on one knee." Alaric smiled.

"Didn't she have to forgive you before saying yes?"

"Luckily Elena explained everything before Rick even had to apologize," Jenna said walking into the kitchen and up to Alaric to give him a peck on the lips.

* * *

><p>While Elena was dancing with Bonnie and Caroline, Jenna and John were conversing in the kitchen.<p>

"Arg, you're still in town," Jenna complained to John, "when are you going to leave?"

"Actually I'm leaving tonight, right after I do something," John said in a guarded tone.

"Good."

"Speaking of leaving, I know you've had time to discuss it, Elena is eighteen now. So when are you and Alaric moving out to start a life of your own?" John asked.

"I don't know John, we just got engaged. We're going to spend the rest of the week at Rick's parents, and then we'll see what happens after that. I don't see why we can't just stay here, if she needs us. But if she doesn't, then I want move out, go with Alaric and leave this town behind, we want our own family." Jenna said, "And I know that Elena and Jeremy will be safe with Damon."

"I just hope I was there for her while all of this was going on." Jenna sighed.

"Yes, you were, but I never was." John said.

"Maybe it was better that you weren't there," Jenna said honestly and then she got defensive, "You gave Elena away to your brother because even subconsciously you knew that he would do a way better job raising her than you ever could."

Her aggressiveness angered John as he said even more guarded, "I never gave her a change to depend on me, but that will change."

"Okay, but I don't see what you're going to do to gain her trust," Jenna quipped.

"Something I should have done to protect her from all of this in the first place," John continued.

"Wait… what?" Jenna started.

"Hey Jenna where's Alaric?" Damon interrupted, "you better get going, if you're going to stay with Rick's parents."

* * *

><p>After midnight the party started to die down, and while Damon was driving a very drunk Caroline home, Elena was clearing away cups in the kitchen of the boarding house.<p>

She thought she heard footsteps so she turned around expecting to see Damon, but instead it was someone she really didn't want to talk to.

"What are you still doing here?" Elena said, "I thought you were leaving town now that Klaus is gone."

"I am leaving," He said, "but you're coming with me."

"Uh, no I'm not, I'm staying here." She said point blank.

"You are coming with me!" The man said getting angry, "now!"

Elena thought the man must be drunk and then said, "What makes you think you can take me, you don't own me! I'm an adult, I can choose to do what I want!"

"Elena, either get in the car now, or I'll take you be force!"

"NO! I'm not going anywhere with you!"

The man started towards her, so she backed up. He reached up with his arm, and then his hand was shooting across her face. Elena was so shocked she couldn't do anything, and then the man grabbed her around the waist and forced a handkerchief onto Elena's mouth. Elena stared back at him with wide eyes as she started to loose consciences and then blacked out.

* * *

><p>Hey guys, thanks for reading! Anything you want to ask me about or critique, just send me a message! I love reading them!<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

"She passed out on her bed," Damon said as he walked through the door of the boarding house," don't worry all of her clothes are still on."

"Hello? Elena, are you still here?" Damon called as his voice echoed through the empty house.

He should have been able to hear her heartbeat.

Damon pulled out his cellphone and called Bonnie.

"Hello"

"Hey Bonnie, is Elena with you?"

"No, I left her at the boarding house; I had to take Tyler home."

"Bonnie I need you to get over here now; I have a bad feeling about this."

When Bonnie arrived at the boarding house she looked around until she noticed Elena's phone on the kitchen counter.

"Her phone, she never leaves without it, although it's a good thing she did because this means I can do a tracking spell on her," Bonnie said.

While Bonnie started chanting, Damon light candles around her.

"She's somewhere dark and bumping around, I think it's the trunk of the car, now if only I knew who was driving," Bonnie started hyperventilating.

"I can't…. I can't see who's driving…I can't see who took her!" Bonnie was crying now, "I don't know where she is!"

"Bonnie it's okay," Damon said pulling the cell phone out of Bonnies grasp, "we'll find out who took her and why, right now let's just think who could have gotten in, in the time that we were away."

"I just thought that all of this drama was behind us," Bonnie sighed.

"Yeah," Damon said, "I thought so too."

* * *

><p>When Elena woke up, the first thing she noticed was the smell of cigarettes and trunk lining. When she opened her eyes everything was black, and all she could feel were the bumps on the highway and the car she was trapped in took her away from the only people who could save her.<p>

Her arms and legs were tied together and her knees were pushed up to her chest to be able to fit into the tiny trunk. Her head was pounding and her cheek was burning. She tried to remember that she had been slapped, and then when she fell back, her head had hit the wall behind her will a loud thud.

She tried to yell but there was duct tape over her mouth, and it pulled at her skin as she tried to open her mouth. It was hot in the trunk and her clothes were starting to get uncomfortable.

She knew she had to wait until the car stopped before she could find a way to escape.

* * *

><p>Back in Mystic Falls, Damon was freaking out, his witch couldn't see where Elena was and he didn't even know who had taken her.<p>

Damon's phone started ringing in his pocket, he answered with a desperate, "Hello," hoping that it was Elena.

"Damon, it's Stefan, I said I would call when we reached the boarder of Virginia. What's wrong?"

"Someone took Elena after the party; Bonnie doesn't know where she is or who took her."

"Dammit Damon, you promised you would look after her."

"Come help me get her back."

"I can't, Elijah won't let me; he's compelled me to stay with him until our mission is finished."

"Damn, don't worry Stefan, I promised I would watch her, and I'll get her back."

"Call me as soon as you hear something!"

"I will, bye."

Damon paced the room and then realized he would have to call Jenna, while visiting with the in-laws, and tell her that her niece was taken under his watch.

"Hello, Damon? Why are you calling?"

"Jenna, Elena was taken after the party. Bonnie tried to track Elena but she couldn't, we don't even know who took her."

"Oh no! Damon as soon as you find her, I am going to kill you!" Jenna said with so much venom that Damon winced.

"I knew we shouldn't of left town, I knew we should have stayed with her," Jenna was crying into the phone.

"Jenna I'm going to find her, don't worry. Do you know anything that could help us?" Damon asked desperately.

"Well the kidnapper would have had to know that we were having a party, and have been there to see when we had all left and Elena was alone. And if she's not hiding in town, then it would of have to been someone who was at the party and then had left town."

"Well who else left town besides you and Alaric?" Damon asked.

Jenna gasped into the phone and then whispered, "I know who took her."

"Who, Jenna? Who took Elena?" Damon demanded.

* * *

><p>"John," she whispered, "I thought he was acting strange at the party. He said something about being there for her, and about protecting her from everything in the first place. I know it was him Damon, because he and Elena were the only two left in the house after Alaric and I left."<p>

"Jenna, I have to call Bonnie and tell her what we know. Thank you, I'll get her back."

"You better call me as soon as she is safe, Damon, if she isn't back in her house in three days, Alaric will be returning to Mystic Falls with a vervain dipped crossbow aimed at your heart.

"Got it. Bye."

Now that Damon knew that the kidnapper was John, he could get Bonnie to use something of his to find out where Elena was being held against her will. Damon grabbed his phone to call Bonnie.

"Hey Damon."

"Bonnie, John is the one who kidnapped Elena. We need to get everyone together so that we can find something of his to do a tracking spell, since the tracking spell didn't work on Elena."

"Okay, but I don't think we have anything of Johns."

"Well we have to find something then," Damon quipped and then hung up.


	3. Chapter 3

Elena woke up on the cold hard floor to the sound of chirping birds. She sneezed as the dust from the floor went into her nose. She had been in this shack for two days now, and she was getting restless. She thought back to when she was locked in the trunk and what had happened when the car stopped.

Elena heard John's footsteps approaching the car, and then the click of the lock went off, and all Elena could see was the blinding light of the sun that clouded her entire vision and made her see purple spots after. John grabbed Elena by the arms and hauled her out of the trunk. He said he wasn't going to untie her until they were inside, so he had to drag her squirming body through the gravel.

When he opened the door to the shack, a few birds flew out along with a cloud of dust. Elena coughed against the duct tape. Inside the shack, John yanked aside a makeshift door and thrust Elena into an empty room after untying her.

She stumbled into the room and looked around at the destroyed walls and the dirty floor. She then turned around to look through the doorway when John was standing. She started towards him and was then shoved back. She tried to run towards him again, but as soon as she reached to doorway, she was pushed back by an invisible spell. A woman then appeared next to John.

"How are you doing this?" Elena asked scared.

"I got a witch to put a spell on the door; you can't leave, that way you won't try to escape when I'm not here. I also got her to put a spell on you so that Bonnie couldn't try and track you."

"Why are you helping him?" Elena asked the witch.

"Even though Klaus is dead, the doppelganger is a powerful being. He said that if I could spell the room, I could have some of your blood," the witch said.

"The doppelganger curse was broken," Elena said.

"Yes, but your blood is still cursed," the witch explained, "and I need it for a spell."

The witch then walked into the room and tried to grab Elena's arm. Elena tried to shove the witch off, and was reaching her arm back to punch her when the most excruciating pain exploded in her head. She winced and then cried out in pain as she held her head with both hands and started lowering her body to the floor.

"Don't try and resist me Elena, just give me your arm and the pain will go away," the witch said impatiently.

Elena held out her arm and the witch pulled out a needle which she stabbed into Elena's arm and forcefully pulled up on the lever to pull out a vial of blood.

"Pleasure doing business with you," the witch told John and then left.

"Why did you kidnap me?" Elena asked John, crying.

"Your parents are gone, Isobel is gone, Klaus is gone, your doppelganger curse is gone and now even Jenna is gone. I'm the only one you have left, and now I finally have you all to myself," John said seriously, "when you're older, you'll understand why I did what I did, and eventually you will love me, like I love you."

"No, I'll never understand! And I'll never trust you, yet alone love you after what you've done!" Elena screamed venomously.

"You will respect me, I'm your father so don't raise you voice at me!" John yelled angrily as his face grew pink.

"You're not my father, you never were! I'm not staying here, Stephan will come save me! And I'll never treat you with respect; you're a lowlife and a criminal!" Elena screamed hysterically through tears.

"That's it! You're not getting any food or water until you speak to me respectfully!"

"I'd rather starve than ever see you again!" Elena screamed then collapsed onto the floor.

Why was this happening to her, she was so happy that they had defeated Klaus, and she thought the drama was past her, but now here it was again. She was fed up of being kidnapped and she was tired of being dragged around like a pawn by everyone. She was just plain tired, so she turned on her side on the floor of the moldy room and tried to calm her angry breathing.

And then she realized, Stephan couldn't save her this time, because he was in another state with Elijah and Katherine. He probably didn't even know she was gone. And then she was crying, silently at first. As the sounds of her sobs grew louder and louder they bounced off the walls of her prison room, reminding her of just how alone she really was.

But then she remembered something, and her revelation had her crying stopped in an instant. Damon would come and save her. Damon wouldn't of forgotten about her. He was probably trying to find her right now. So now she was crying for an entirely new reason, because she knew there was someone else who loved her and who could save her. Damon himself had said her would always choose her, and this is how he could prove it.

* * *

><p>And so after two days, Elena's stomach had been growling nonstop and her tongue felt like sandpaper inside her dusty mouth. John had kept his word and didn't bring her anything until she could speak to him in a calm voice. John also wasn't going anywhere. He had spent a good half of the day on the couch watching his fantasy team, and now he was in the bathroom whittling a stake.<p>

Elena didn't know what to do with herself, she was stuck in an empty room with nothing to do, and she couldn't get out. Was just supposed to sit here until Damon could rescue her? She didn't think so. So, she stood up and paced around the room trying to think of what to do.

She stopped walking in a circle and stood facing the window. She looked through it at the beautiful spring morning. A bush was budding right underneath the sill, and the branches beat against the glass with the moving of the wind. The wind was making gentle swoosh noises, and a bird was chirping. Oh how she wished she could be outside. And as she starred at the window, she dreamed that Damon would come through it, like he would back in Mystic Falls, and tell her good night, or play with her teddy bear.

She was now sitting with her back leaning against the wall that faced the window, for she had been day dreaming about her Damon fantasy for an hour, and the she thought of something.

The witch had put a spell on the door, but had she remembered to spell the window as well?

Elena took one look at the rusty window and decided she should wait until John had left the house, in fear that it would groan against the pane and John would realize what she was doing.

And Elena knew just the way to get John out of the house.

* * *

><p>Did you like the thought back to when part, or was it confusing?<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

"John?" Elena asked.

John appeared in the hallway, but he didn't say anything, he just looked at her with a knowing look.

"I'm ready to speak to you with respect." Elena sighed, defeated.

"Go on," He said calmly.

"I was, wrong. You are my father and you were right in taking me. It was dangerous in Mystic Falls and you need to protect me. Thank you," She sighed.

"There you go Elena, was that so hard," John said.

"Please, it's been two days, and I'm starving," She said sweetly, "would you go get me some food?"

"Well you've been quite for two days, so you've earned it," he said slowly, "but I just ate the last in the fridge, so I'm going to have to go out. Walk towards me so I can test the spell on the door."

She did as she asked to convince him she couldn't escape, even though she knew she could. When she reached the doorway, she was shoved back a foot by the elastic magic that was woven in the door space. Once John was satisfied that she couldn't get out, he turned and went out the front door. She heard the car door slam and then Elena peeked through the corner of the window to see which way John turned. She needed to follow him to town to find out where she was, and to find a pay phone so she could call Damon.

Elena's heart was racing; she couldn't wait to test out the window, but she wanted to wait for John to drive a few miles before racing to escape. Elena walked over to the window and reached for the latch. She pulled towards her, and the latch didn't budge. She wrapped her right hand around the latch and pulled with all her strength. The latch creaked open a centimeter. She tightened her grip and leaned against the window with the rest of her body to try and push it back. The window finally fell open with a final creak from the latch. What Elena didn't notice was that when the bent bar of the ledge snapped straight, its sharp edge trapped her left hand and ripped open the skin above her knuckles. Elena didn't even feel the initial cut, only the cold burn that started a few seconds later. She cried out in pain as blood started seeping out of her wound.

This cut wasn't going to stop her though, plus if John came back, he would know she was up to something.

Elena sat on the window ledge, and then turned around and shimmied down the bricks of the house into the bushes. She then scrambled out onto the front lawn of the shack and then started running down the road the same direction John had gone. She was tired, even though she had tried to sleep, she had tossed and turned on the cold hard floor, and she hadn't had anything to eat since the party three days ago. She had to run though; she wanted to be able to hug her brother again. She wanted to be able to smell Damon's cologne and Bourbon breath again. These motivations kept her running as she ran down the one way road through the middle of nowhere.

* * *

><p>"Come on there must be something in this house that's his!" Damon said as he threw journals to the floor looking for something belonging to John, so that Bonnie could do a tracking spell.<p>

Bonnie, Jeremy, Caroline, and even Matt and Tyler had come to help Damon look for one of John's possessions. In the rush that they had to find something, they had each taken a room or closet, and spent the morning ransacking it as they tore through dusty boxes and threw clothes onto the floor looking for trinkets hidden in the back of drawers.

"Remind me again why we are looking for something of Johns instead of just easily grabbing something of Elena's from her room?" Jeremy asked confused, he had been informed that Elena was taken, but only recently learned that it was by John, his uncle.

"For some reason my tracking spell wouldn't work on Elena, but now that we know that John took her, if we have something of his, I can try and track him," Bonnie explained.

Jeremy started, "Well why don't you use his ring? It's had lots of owners since John gave it to Isobel, than she gave it to Alaric, then John got it back from Alaric to give it to Elena, but technically, it's still his since it was made for him by Emily Bennett."

"Jeremy, you're a genius! Who has it now?" Damon asked frantically.

"I already knew that, and doesn't Rick have it?" Jeremy asked.

"Dammit, Alaric's not here!" Damon shouted, about to lose his temper, "He's not here! And he has John's ring! That is just great!"

"Damon, it's okay, we'll get her back," Bonnie said calmly, "just go into the kitchen and take a break. You've been running around the house at vamp speed all morning, and it's wearing you out. Jeremy, call Alaric and tell him he needs to come home, explain that we can't find Elena without his ring."

Jeremy took out his phone and went into the front room to call Alaric. Damon took Bonnie's advice and went into the kitchen to grab a blood bag that Elena kept in the back of the fridge for supernatural emergencies. He poured the blood into a mug and went to put it in the microwave.

* * *

><p>As Elena was running, every time she heard a car coming, she would run into the bushes in case it was John driving and he saw her. As she heard the whirring sound coming towards her heart rate would increase even higher than when she was running. She then ran down into the ditch running parallel to the road, climbed out the other side and scrambled into the bushed. She had several scrapes, but none that burned as much as her now aching hand. That window bar had really cut deep, and even though Elena only looked at it once, since once was enough for the gore, she could see layers of muscle exposed by the torn skin.<p>

Her fears were worse when a car was coming up from behind her, instead of towards her, because she was never sure if the car could see her before she ran into the bush. Elena had already been paranoid, but this fear was too much for her. Thank goodness there was little traffic today, or else Elena would have to run through the forest in fear of someone seeing her and getting suspicious.

As Elena reached a junction in the road, she turned left and saw something that made her cry out in happiness. A gas station! She didn't even need to go all the way into town, and fear John seeing her. Although she was fairly sure that she had passed John on the road a while ago, and he had arrived home to find her room absent, with a wide open window smeared with blood. She shivered and tried not to think about a furious John running around trying to find her.

Elena sprinted the rest of the way to the gas station and then took a couple of deep breaths outside before pushing open the steel barred door and being met with a gust of conditioned air.

"Hello, how can I help you?" the high school age cashier said.

"Um, yes. My family and I are on a road trip, and we have a flat. Where are we right now?" Elena asked.

"Oh, you're in Blackstone, Virginia, right off of 460," the girl said.

"Thank you, um once I got here I was supposed to call them, but I don't have any money." Elena said near tears. Why didn't she remember she needed money to use the phone. How was she planning on talking to Damon?

"Oh, it's okay. I have money! Don't worry about it. Here you go" the girl said worried as she handed Elena a couple quarters, "what's your name?"

"Elena," she sniffled.

"Elena, my name's Alice. And around here, we help people out, even with a something as simple as a phone call, so don't worry, your family will be back on the road in no time."

Elena nodded in thanks as she sniffled. Elena went to the back of the gas station where the rust pay phone was hammered into the wall. She inserted the quarters and typed in the number she had memorized after using it so much for emergencies.

With each ring, Elena's heart began to beat quicker and quicker. Each ring was quick, but the silence in between was what made her heart sink to the floor like thick syrup. Elena was running out of options. She had taken the risk to come this far, but she had nowhere to go now. John was going to find her, and she was scared for her life now, more than she was before. John was her father, she shouldn't hurt her, but he had proven himself unpredictable before. There was no telling what he would do if he found her trying to run away from him. Just as Elena's heart was about to touch the floor, it rushed back into her chest and started beating in double time when the ringing stopped and was replaced with a quick and urgent:

"Hello! Elena?"

"Damon!" She cried out, and then she started gasping for air as her heart filled with hope at being safe in his arms again.


	5. Chapter 5

Damon was just finishing his blood bag when his phone rang. He sighed and stood up to go and get it from the counter, and he was confused when he saw that the caller was unknown. But, then he realized it could be Elena. He immediately pressed send.

"Hello! Elena?" he practically screamed into the phone.

"Damon!" He heard her cry and then she started gasping for air.

"Elena, calm down, everything is going to be okay! I'm coming to get you! We would have found you a lot sooner, but Bonnies tracking spell wouldn't work." He explained. It hurt him to hear her gasping and so scared.

"I know, he had a witch help him," she whispered in between her loud cries.

"Elena, where are you?" Damon asked urgently.

"I'm at a gas station in Blackstone, hurry Damon I think John knows I escaped from the house." Elena whispered, finally calming down.

"Elena, you know I love you right?" Damon asked sweetly.

Elena sniffled loudly into the phone then said, "Mmmhmm, and I'll always hold on to that."

Damon was about to say something witty to break the tense conversation, but then he heard Elena's breathing go completely silent in the phone.

"Elena? Elena?" Damon asked worried.

"Damon, I think John's in the store." Elena whispered.

"Dammit, hold on Elena, I'm coming!" Damon hung up and ran to the front of the house.

"Bonnie, let's go! I know where she is!" Damon shouted urgently.

"What's going on?" Jeremy asked.

"I found her, we have to go now!" Damon shouted loudly, "Jeremy, explain everything to Jenna and Alaric when they get back!"

In the car, Damon told Bonnie about Elena's phone call.

"When I hung up, she said that John was in the gas station with her, he's going to hurt her before we get there!" Damon said as he pounded his foot harder on the gas.

"Damon, just calm down! Or else I'm driving, we can't go on a rescue mission, if end up in a crash." Bonnie said calmly, "Besides, we can't help Elena if we're panicking."

* * *

><p>Elena was panicking! She heard the bell ring on the door signaling that there was another customer at the gas station. And this customer stepped with big booming steps that sounded just like her father's boots.<p>

"Hello, may I help you?" Alice, the cashier asked.

"Yes, I seem to have lost my daughter, and I thought she might have stepped in here."

Elena heard his voice and instantly knew that it was John.

"Oh, you must be the family with the flat tire, Elena just went to the back to call you," Alice said cheerily, not knowing that she was sending the enemy directly to the victim.

Elena heard the footsteps getting closer and closer. She did the only thing left she could think of. She turned around and slammed on the emergency exit door. A loud shrill sound started beeping from the door, she had instantly given away her hiding spot, but maybe that would be okay if she could run fast enough. Elena ran to the forest behind the gas station and didn't look back to see if John was there.

"Elena!" He screamed.

She was running into the forest, ignoring her aching feet and the scratches on her ankles from the branches as they smacked her as she ran faster and faster. Her heart was racing, her head felt faint, but she kept running and running, her fear keeping her strong. And what kept her even stronger, was knowing that Damon was coming for her, and she just needed to last long enough for him to find her.

As she was running, her vision began to get cloudy, and then a ringing popped into her ears, and before she knew it, she had tripped on a branch, and the ground was swallowing her as she dropped cold.

* * *

><p>"How are we going to find her when we get there?" Bonnie asked worried.<p>

"She said she was at a gas station, and if we're driving the same way John did, it will be the first one we see when we get there." Damon explained.

"Okay, I'll keep my eye out." Bonnie said.

After 45 minutes of silence Damon announced that they were in Blackstone. Bonnie then saw a gas station to their immediate left.

Damon slammed the car door shut without even bothering to turn off the engine, "Stay there!" he shouted to Bonnie, and then vamp sped up to the metal door of the gas station.

"Sorry, we're closing!" Alice said.

"Where is she?" Damon asked.

"Who are you?" Alice asked.

Damon was losing all his sanity and patience, so he grabbed Alice by the shoulders and looked her directly in the eyes.

"Where is Elena?" Damon asked, compelling the girl.

"She ran out the emergency exit."

"What about a man?"

"He followed after her."

Damon was running through the forest at vamp speed, using his vampire senses to try and smell Elena. He had to get to her before John did, and he was hoping that his extra speed would give him more time. Then, he was hit with a scent so strong, he stopped and staggered. Blood. He would recognize the scent anywhere. It was Elena's.

He ran, and then he saw her. Her lifeless body bent at all odd angles on the ground. Her clothes were wrinkled and torn in little slits. Her arms and face were covered with dried mud and blood. Her hair was in a massive knot that splayed underneath her. And she still looked like an angel to him, with her eyes closed and her lips pink like satin. He ran to her, and crouched down next to her.

"Elena? Elena? Please be okay!" Damon was searching her all over for life threatening wounds, and his eyebrows were so tightly cinched together that his head hurt.

"Damon."

* * *

><p>Ooh, who said it? Elena or John? I don't know...<p>

A quick thank you to everyone that has read my story, and a big thank you to everyone that has reviewed! You guys make my day, keep doing it, please!


	6. Chapter 6

"Damon."

It was John.

"Hello John, I though you left town, and that I would never see you again." Damon said as the veins started appearing below his eyes, and his fangs began enlarging.

"Damon, I was doing this to protect her." John said quietly.

"Well, what about protecting her from you? You were hurting her, and now you've crossed the line."

Damon sped into John's face, and before he could react, Damon had him up against a tree with his ring snatched off. Damon then snapped John's neck and let him drop with a dull thud onto the forest floor.

Damon then ran to Elena and picked up her limp body.

Damon looked down at the most beautiful face he had even seen. In her sleeping peace, all her frown and worry lines vanished to create the face of an angel. Damon was pushing a loose lock of hair behind her ear when he noticed he couldn't hear her pulse beating a strongly as it usually did.

Damon couldn't just feed her his blood, she was unconscious, and she could choke, so he would have to wait for her to wake up.

Damon pulled Elena more securely to his chest and then sped to the car where Bonnie was waiting.

When Bonnie saw Damon approaching, she got out of the car and opened the back door for Damon. She then helped Damon get in so that Elena could lie in the back and have her head resting in Damon's lap.

The ride home was silent, and the air was filled with a calmness brought from having Elena back, but also a nervousness since Elena was in a critical condition.

"I killed him," Damon said wearily.

"I thought you did," Bonnie said calmly.

"I found her in the forest behind the gas station like this, who knows where she's been for the past four days." Damon said angrily, "I just found a giant gash on her hand, and I think she's dehydrated. We'll just have to wait for her to wake up."

About thirty minutes in the journey back to Mystic Falls, Bonnie started to get nervous. How long had Elena been unconscious? What if she didn't wake up?

"Come on Elena, wake up," Damon was pleading, "Wake up, it's Damon, you're save now."

As his pleads became more urgent, Bonnie knew she had to do something, so she pulled the car over.

"I think I can help," Bonnie said, "I think if I can share some of my power with her, she'll have the strength to wake up."

Bonnie hoped that it would be similar to what she did with Luca, a shared power to make the spell stronger, or sharing to give someone strength.

Bonnie put her hand on Elena's forehead and took her hand with the other. Then she concentrated on sharing all her power with Elena.

Damon could hear Elena's pulse get stronger and stronger with each second. And soon he heard her faint breathing fill the car. Damon bit into his wrist while Elena was trying to open her eyes.

"It's Damon, you're safe now Elena. Now I need you to drink, please." Damon said slowly as he guided his wrist to Elena's mouth.

Elena resisted at first, but with a bit more coaxing from Damon, she took little sips, and color was already returning to her cheeks.

Bonnie sighed in relief and started the car again.

* * *

><p>Even after the blood, Elena still didn't have the energy to keep her eyes open. She was thankful that Damon and Bonnie didn't ask any questions, just allowed her to drift off to sleep in Damon's warm arms.<p>

Elena woke up with a start and gasped. Where was she? She wasn't in the house where John had locked her up.

"It's Damon, you're safe, we found you," he sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than her.

"Damon," she croaked and then cleared her throat.

"What happened to you?" Damon asked sighing.

So Elena explained to him, from when John first held a handkerchief to her mouth, being locked in a trunk, and then locked in a room, and being starved for two days. Then noticing the window and cutting her hand, to running for her life down the road. Then running through the forest after knowing John was following her, up until she tripped and passed out.

Elena looked down at the cut on her hand, which had sealed up after having Damon's blood in her system. There was still a jagged scar that ran along the line of her knuckles; she hoped that it would fade away.

"Where's John?" Elena asked.

"I killed him." Damon said quietly.

Elena thought about that for a while, and then started crying. Not because she missed John, he had kidnapped her and taken her away from her true family. She was crying because she was scared, not enough time had passed between now and when she was still trapped. She was also crying because Damon had to kill to save her, and she knew that if she had been awake to see Damon do that she would have been terrified. She was scared for Damon, and she saw how the past days had taken a toll on him. There were dark shadows under his eyes, and his hair looked like a greasy birds nest since he hadn't had a shower in a while. Damon was just a shaky as she was, and he held her tightly in his arms while she cried into his chest in the back seat of the car.

"Thank you for saving me," Elena said as sincerely as possible.

"Always," Damon said seriously.

Elena fell asleep again before they arrived home, so when they did, Damon had to pick her up and carry her to the boarding house. Bonnie had asked why they didn't take Elena to her own house. And Damon had explained that the place was still ransacked from when they were looking for one of John's possessions. Plus, he wanted to be with her tonight, in case she had nightmares.

Elena had woken up when Damon started shuffling her around the house, and she found herself sitting on the toilet as Damon turned on the shower.

"I'm going to take these off, is that okay?" Damon asked quietly, referring to her muddy clothes.

She nodded.

Damon reached down and undid her pants button, and she leaned against him as he slid her jeans down one leg at a time. Damon then sat her down on the toilet, pulled her arms in the air, and peeled her shirt off. He had also removed her bra and panties, but Elena was too tired to notice, or care.

Damon helped her into the shower and stood holding her waist as he put her under the running water. He was still in his clothes, which were gaining more wet spots the longer they were there. The warm water was so nice on her cold skin, and the steam swam around her making her feel sleepy. She leaned against him and sighed. Then her feet lost their grip, and she felt herself slipping through his light hold. Her reached for her quickly and held her tightly against him.

"Maybe you should have more of my blood," Damon said worried.

She nodded, and he bit into his wrist instantly and guided it to her mouth. Blood from his wrist started sliding down her stomach in a thin line along with the water, and soon it was forming a puddle under their feet. Elena drank for ages, and Damon didn't stop her, until he himself felt faint.

Damon then left her to wash her hair, and said, "I'll put your clothes in the wash."

"Just throw them out," she said in a dull voice, "I never want to see them again."

* * *

><p>While Elena was showering, Damon was downstairs making Elena dinner. When Elena stepped out of the shower, she found a white shirt and a pair of black boxers. Elena stepped into them, and then stepped onto the balcony upstairs, she could smell chicken and her stomach rumbled, but her sleepy head won over her stomach, so she headed to the guest room at the end of the hall and fell on top of the covers and passed out.<p>

Damon heard the shower turn off and waited a few minutes for Elena to get dressed before he headed upstairs. He followed the sound of her heartbeat to the guest room, and he sighed when he saw her asleep on top of the covers.

He grabbed a blanket from the closet and draped it over her, tucking it around her feet and under her chin. He kissed her on the forehead, and then went to his room to sleep.

Damon woke up suddenly when he heard Elena's shrieks.

Elena was inside the shack when John had trapped her. He was in the room with her, and he was slapping her. He hit her round the head and then kneed her in the stomach. Everything was happening too quickly, she couldn't catch a moment to move.

"Damon!" she shrieked, "Damon!" It was a raw sound that came from the bottom of her throat and choked its way out of her. The screams echoed around the room, the entire shack, and out into reality.

"Damon!" He heard Elena cry out in agony.

Damon raced into the guest room to find Elena sprawled in the middle of the bed, with the sheets wrapped around her legs and waist. Her head was straining off of the pillows and her eyes were squeezed in pain.

Damon reached out to her, and when he grabbed her around the waist, she shoved against him with all her strength, and writhed in his grip screaming, "NO! No, no, no!"

"Elena, its Damon! You're having a dream! Wake up!" Damon said loudly with concern.

All of a sudden Elena's eyes snapped open, she wailed again, and then curled into Damon's embrace.

Elena and Damon sat huddled together in silence for a few minutes until Damon suggested, "Want to come sleep in my room?"

"With you?" Elena asked.

"Well, yeah, if that's okay," Damon hesitated. But his fears were quickly set aside when she nodded her head. He held her hand as he helped her out of bed and lead her down the hall.

Damon was already in his boxer and shirt, and Elena didn't mind. They lay down on opposite sides of the bed, and then met each other in the middle. His arm went around her waist, and she rested her head on his chest.

"Elena?" Damon asked hesitantly.

"Hhmmm?" She hummed in question, making the vibration echo through his chest.

"Never mind," He whispered since he knew she was half asleep already.

* * *

><p>Guys, I need help, I've run out of ideas of how to lead this part of the story to the next (which is Jenna and Alaric's wedding) Please comment, I would love to see what you think!<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

In the morning Elena woke up next to Damon with his arm draped haphazardly oven her waist. Elena's breath hitched in her throat. What had happened last night? How had she let it get this far with Damon, when she was still with Stephan? Elena definitely didn't wasn't Damon to wake up with her still here. That would be awkward, and lead to many questions she couldn't bring herself to answer. Elena carefully slid out of Damon's hold and tiptoed out of the room, still wearing Damon's shirt and boxers. She thought about how to return them to him without it being weird. Elena found she keys on the hook by the door where she had put them before the party. Her car was still here since she hadn't driven it home after the party when John had kidnapped her. She was thankful she didn't need Damon to give her a ride, which would be way to long a silent drive for her to handle.

As Elena drove away from the boarding house, she looked through the dashboard and cup holders for her phone. She was sure she had left it at the boarding house before everything had happened, maybe someone had taken it. She sighed and kept driving, looking forward to seeing her brother.

Elena was so glad to finally be home, she walked up the path and unlocked her door, and then stopped in the entry way. There were books smashed onto the floor. Boxes lined the hallways with their contents strewn along into a path that connected the living room and kitchen. Someone was looking for something. What was it? What if it was Jeremy!

"Jeremy?" Elena called loudly through the house, "Jeremy!"

"Elena?" Jeremy said, appearing at the landing.

"Jeremy," Elena sighed running up the stairs to hug her brother.

"Bonnie called and said they had found you, but you were pretty beat up and Damon said he wanted to take care of you." Jeremy explained.

"I missed you so much Jer," Elena whispered, "Now what happened here?" she said, raising her voice.

So Jeremy explained how they thought if they could find something of Johns they could find her, and how they needed Alaric's ring.

"And so, Jenna and Alaric are cutting their trip short, and they should be arriving later today, by the way." Jeremy said, "Oh, and Bonnie has your cell phone."

* * *

><p>Damon was still half asleep, but he knew Elena was beside him, so he rolled to the side trying to cuddle her, and was met with cold empty sheets.<p>

Damon sat up. "Elena?" He called, "Elena!"

Where was she? After just getting her back, he was not going to let anyone take her from him again.

He sped downstairs and found his phone and speed dialed Elena.

With each ring he grew more and more nervous. Elena always answered her phone. And she was just here, so how far could she have gotten.

_Hello, you've reached Elena Gilbert…_

Damon threw his phone to the floor, grabbed his keys and slammed the door.

When he looked outside, he saw that Elena's car was gone. She might have just left by herself, but Damon wanted to be sure she was okay.

Damon got in his car and thought the first place he should look was Elena's house.

Elena and Jeremy were picking up books and sorting them in boxes when the doorbell rang fiercely. While Elena was getting the keys, the doorbell started to ring more franticly.

Elena opened the door and there was Damon looking worried and standing in his black shirt and wrinkled pair of jeans.

Damon sighed, "I didn't know where you were. Elena you can't leave like that!"

"I'm sorry," she said. She didn't realize that he would wake up not knowing that she was okay. "I just wanted to go back home."

"Promise me that you'll never let yourself out of my sight again Elena," Damon said fiercely.

Elena rolled her eyes and said, "I promise. Just remember that you asked for it Damon," thinking about fun ways to make him regret saying that.

"Okay," Damon said confused.

"Now help us clean this up, you made this mess in the first place," Elena snapped.

"Yeah, trying to save your life," Damon said grinning, looking into her smiling eyes.

Jeremy looked at the two of them sharing a moment and decided to start cleaning in another room, so that Elena and Damon could banter amongst themselves.

* * *

><p>And true to her word, Elena never left Damon's sight. She followed him everywhere he went, to founder's council meetings, to the bar, and around the boarding house. She followed him from room to room like a little duckling, and Damon was enjoying what she thought was a way to get back at him. Once, Elena even suggested coming into the bathroom with him because, "I promised that I would never be out of your sight, you asked for it." To which Damon had laughed out loud and called a truce, then said,<p>

"Ahh I change my mind, how about a hot shower?" He said as he did his eye thing, and she mock punched him in the arm. And all while Elena was following Damon around, Stephan faded to the back of her memory, because she was having so much fun with Damon.

* * *

><p>Damon woke up and heard the shower water drumming against the tile as Elena's pulse beat along with it. The last months had been hard on Elena, and on him. Even after knowing that Elena was safe back in Mystic Falls, Jenna still wanted to cut her trip short and return home, but Elena convinced her to stay. She told Jenna she had to learn to get along with the in-laws, and so Jenna calmed down. Since Jenna and Alaric were still out of town, Jeremy and Elena had been staying in the boarding house with Damon. He liked that he could keep an eye out for them, and he enjoyed the company.<p>

Only a couple of days after moving in with Damon, they got a call from Stephan.

Stephan did not want to talk to Elena, so she unwillingly passed the phone to Damon, and Stephan told him that Elijah had compelled him to act as his minion as they toured America looking for supporters to join their powerful family. Stephan told Damon that he had lost his feelings for Elena as he was compelled, and that they were breaking up. Damon then left Elena to speak in a different room. Damon yelled at Stephan and tried to convince him to come home. Stephan said that he was compelled to not want to go home; Elijah needed Stephan since he was a powerful influence to other vampires. Stephan told Damon not to go looking for him, because he wouldn't be able to find him. Then he asked Damon to explain all of this to Elena, and hung up. Damon was so furious with Stephan, even more so for leaving him to tell Elena everything.

Elena was heartbroken, Stephan was gone and never coming back, he was compelled to not love her anymore. Damon was heartbroken too, he had lost a brother, but he didn't have the heart to go looking for him either. And this shared grief brought them together, and strengthened their friendship, so Damon was secretly thankful that Stephan was out of the picture.

* * *

><p>And so, just as these events started with a party, they ended with a party. Elena wanted to forget everything that had happened in her past, and the last it's all over party streak had been ruined with John, so this next party would be the start of a good life for the people of Mystic Falls, or would it start some new drama?<p>

"Why do you like having so many parties," Damon asked, "it is just the excuse you use to get drunk, so you can then use that as an excuse to kiss and do the no pants dance with me?"

Elena rolled her eyes and then disappeared to the dance floor with Bonnie and Caroline.


End file.
